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Dear APUMC Family,
A humble request was made to me this week by one of our beloved members, Valencia Montgomery. It is an invitation, really. A word of encouragement for the life of the congregation.
The invitation is to wear something pink to worship this Sunday as a sign of support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
I appreciate Valencia lifting this cause before us as a means of health education, advocacy and support for women and families everywhere. It is also a perfect example of one of our worship themes for this season. It is a gentle reminder of the importance of solidarity with both friends and strangers.
In his book, Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen says that no lasting healing will ever take place without what he calls a “solidarity of heart.” When I consider the variety of causes and concerns that could justifiably grab our attention these days, and how easy it is to be overwhelmed by them all, I am moved by the insight of Nouwen’s reflection written some 50 years ago.
“Maybe, for the time being, we have to accept the many fluctuations between knowing and not knowing, seeing and not seeing, feeling and not feeling, between days in which the whole world seems like a rose garden and days in which our hearts seem tied to a millstone, between moments of ecstatic joy and moments of gloomy depression, between the humble confession that the newspaper holds more than our souls can bear and the realization that it is only through facing up to the reality of our world that we can grow into our own responsibility.
Maybe we have to be tolerant toward our own avoidances and denials in the conviction that we cannot force ourselves to face what we are not ready to respond to and in the hope that in one future day we will have the courage and strength to open our eyes fully and see without being destroyed.
All this might be the case as long as we remember that there is no hope in denial or avoidance, neither for ourselves nor for anyone else, and that new life can only be born out of the seed planted in crushed soil. Indeed God, our Lord, “will not scorn this crushed and broken heart” (Psalm 51:17).
What keeps us from opening ourselves to the reality of the world? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal? Could it be that we do not want to give up our illusion that we are masters over our world and, therefore, create our own Disneyland where we can make ourselves believe that all events of life are safely under control? Could it be that our blindness and deafness are signs of our own resistance to acknowledging that we are not the Lord of the Universe? It is hard to allow these questions to go beyond the level of rhetoric and to really sense in our innermost self how much we resent our powerlessness.
But life can teach us that although the events of the day are out of our hands, they should never be out of our hearts, that instead of becoming bitter our lives can yield to the wisdom that only from the heart can a creative response come forth. When the answer to our world remains hanging between our minds and our hands, it remains weak and superficial.
When our protests…do not reach beyond the level of a reaction, then our indignation becomes self-righteous, our hope for a better world degenerates into a desire for quick results, and our generosity is soon exhausted by disappointments. Only when our mind has descended into our heart can we expect a lasting response…
It would be paralyzing to proclaim that we, as individuals, are responsible for all human suffering, but it is a liberating message to say that we are called to respond to it…It is this inner solidarity which prevents self-righteousness and makes compassion possible.” (emphasis mine).
This Sunday, we will consider the solidarity of Jesus as revealed in Luke’s episode of the 10 lepers. Like so many scenes in our lives, it is the compassion of Jesus that moves the story forward. And yet, what of our response to his healing? Will it keep us moving in that same direction? Or will we lose momentum altogether, soon to be stuck again?
I hope to see you this Sunday as we continue this series. Let us show up in solidarity with the mission of Christ and for the fellowship of this church family. Let us reach out with generosity for the sake of a hurting world. Let us gather in prayer and preparation for the Kingdom that is yet to come and already breaking through.
I’ll be looking out for you. You look out for me. To make it even easier this week, I’ll be the one in the pink and blue bowtie. Seek and ye shall find!
I also hope that you are making plans to be with us in worship for our Consecration Sunday on October 26 and join us for a celebration brunch in between services.
Reach out to one another…we want everyone here!
For Christ,
Darren
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